Plotlines - eh?
- Thread starter mistress_dodo
- Start date
Arrgh! Mark!
First Post
Another queenslander on the boards! Welcome. An urbane brisbanite here.
As to your plot - I would agree with the above statements about continuing the problem with the core conflict. Why would the academy be attacked is important. Did it have anything of importance? was the headmasters beard a little too long for mage standard? etc.
Now, they get teleported to a random location. My advice is to not just have them make their way back, but also have strange things go on which they might realise later had a part to do with the academy.
Say the academy was attacked by demons. What if they find a cult of a demon lord active in the countryside with a letter/magic mouth/whatever telling them the "First part of the strike is successful" and the second is on it's way from the wherever, but requires that this cult make the surrounding land run red with blood?
Etc. Just make a few things that happen on their journey back part of what happens.
As to your plot - I would agree with the above statements about continuing the problem with the core conflict. Why would the academy be attacked is important. Did it have anything of importance? was the headmasters beard a little too long for mage standard? etc.
Now, they get teleported to a random location. My advice is to not just have them make their way back, but also have strange things go on which they might realise later had a part to do with the academy.
Say the academy was attacked by demons. What if they find a cult of a demon lord active in the countryside with a letter/magic mouth/whatever telling them the "First part of the strike is successful" and the second is on it's way from the wherever, but requires that this cult make the surrounding land run red with blood?
Etc. Just make a few things that happen on their journey back part of what happens.
Odhanan
Adventurer
Welcome to the boards, Agnes.mistress_dodo said:
My first thought while reading this was "wow; this sounds a lot like the starting point of my present campaign: the Seven Spires". The link is in my sig, above.
The characters were in a village, witnessing an ancestral ritual of the community, when an attack over the village triggered the theft of the artefact used for the ritual, a cup of emerald gemstone. It was in fact one half of an ancient artefact, the Cup of Life and Death (inspired by a free adventure of Monte Cook's website some years ago), and its obsidian half had been stolen years ago by a nearby clan of goblins, the Mabluk clan. Obviously, the Mabluk were suspected of the theft first. This first impression was reinforced by the fact one of the thieves was a goblin (while the other provided the opportunity - a water elemental spawned by the village's river). Anyway, the PCs went to the Mabluk tower and decided to demand the Emerald Cup back.
This could go both ways: they could use diplomacy and get the Mabluk to talk, or actually wipe out the inhabitants of the tower at the time (a large portion of the clan being in a scouting party, searching for a goblin who deserted the clan with a ranger thought dead a few weeks ago by the PCs' community). This all went down to the two thieves hiding in the unvisited cemetery of the village, some confrontation with weird undead and a Mojh, and the final showdown with the "ranger", who was in fact a wereboar.
All this to explain the similarity with your idea, Agnes. In any case, I think it's a fine idea (obviously), because it is generic enough and sort of shows the "ropes of the game", particularly to newcomers to D&D.
The main thing to keep in mind is to keep events open-ended, and not think that events in the game have to happen a certain way. That's the death of any campaign, in fact, in my opinion.
There are ways to fall back on your feet in any case. For instance, in the adventure I talk about above, the way the PCs handle the meeting with the Mabluk clan is important and influences a large part of the XP gain of the game, but they can indeed handle it however they want. Sooner or later, they will fall back on the "trail" of the thieves and end up confronting them.
It just so happens that the PCs of the Seven Spires chose to talk with the Mabluk, and succeeded in rallying them to their cause. They adventured with goblins throughout the cemetery and catacombs below it and the goblins offered the obsidian half the cup (which had been stolen by the thieves as well) back to the village at the end of the adventure. It sealed a new alliance between the goblins and other sentients of the regions. Cool accomplishment for a first adventure, isn't it?
I hope this helps,
Benoist.
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Herremann the Wise
First Post
Hello Agnes,
Sydneysider checking in - you dirty cane toad you. There are several dynamics here I think you need to consider in trying to nut this out:
- The group are obviously low level at the moment.
- An Academy of Magic is under attack
- Whoever is doing the attacking must be damn powerful (particularly to not be detected or for the academy to not have divined such an attack)
- If a Teleport is being cast by said Instructor, and then the instructor is destroyed in an instant, this just underlines the power level of the opposition. Suffice to say, the academy may have been destroyed along with anything near it.
- At this point, I'm thinking Planar influences of some type, most likely infernal rather than abyssal (planning is too good, unless you want to try the rip between the planes demon splurge thing).
And so:
- This seems the major thing going on - lets call it the major plot for your group
- However, the PCs are way too low a level to deal with this at the moment
- As such, I would suggest that the teleport sends them WAY WAY WAY away; perhaps even to the opposite ends of your world if not into an alternative material plane! Getting back and possibly taking revenge will obviously be the big thing for yor PCs. This is their primary motivation.
- Currently though, they are stuck in the middle of this weird Orc thing in goodness knows where - no one knows any of the names they are talking about, (up to you whether they even understand the language the orcs are using).
- Make the Orc plot as complex as you like. Just remember to focus on the prime motivations of each of the antagonists.
However, I think you need to have a little bit more action at the Academy before this devestating attack happens. You have to give your PCs a chance to love the place, call it home, remember it and more importantly the characters inhabiting it. The first part of your adventure should be spent strengthening their attachment to the people there. That would be how you would get the above to work well.
Anyway, just a different angle to approach your idea with.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Sydneysider checking in - you dirty cane toad you. There are several dynamics here I think you need to consider in trying to nut this out:
- The group are obviously low level at the moment.
- An Academy of Magic is under attack
- Whoever is doing the attacking must be damn powerful (particularly to not be detected or for the academy to not have divined such an attack)
- If a Teleport is being cast by said Instructor, and then the instructor is destroyed in an instant, this just underlines the power level of the opposition. Suffice to say, the academy may have been destroyed along with anything near it.
- At this point, I'm thinking Planar influences of some type, most likely infernal rather than abyssal (planning is too good, unless you want to try the rip between the planes demon splurge thing).
And so:
- This seems the major thing going on - lets call it the major plot for your group
- However, the PCs are way too low a level to deal with this at the moment
- As such, I would suggest that the teleport sends them WAY WAY WAY away; perhaps even to the opposite ends of your world if not into an alternative material plane! Getting back and possibly taking revenge will obviously be the big thing for yor PCs. This is their primary motivation.
- Currently though, they are stuck in the middle of this weird Orc thing in goodness knows where - no one knows any of the names they are talking about, (up to you whether they even understand the language the orcs are using).
- Make the Orc plot as complex as you like. Just remember to focus on the prime motivations of each of the antagonists.
However, I think you need to have a little bit more action at the Academy before this devestating attack happens. You have to give your PCs a chance to love the place, call it home, remember it and more importantly the characters inhabiting it. The first part of your adventure should be spent strengthening their attachment to the people there. That would be how you would get the above to work well.
Anyway, just a different angle to approach your idea with.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Whimsical
Explorer
I'm going to have to disagree with some of this advice. As a player who has played in a campaign where we just wanted to get to a certain city and we keep getting into trouble after trouble after trouble through several levels; and all we want to do is get to this city, this can be soulcrushingly frustrating. So much so that the campaign fell apart. I felt that we were complete failures at achiving a simple goal.
My suggestion is to make the first few adventures episodic, where the PCs can meet their goals in a satisfactory manner, then have a metaplot reveal how these seemingly disjointed adventures are connected in a disturbingly sinister manner. Then go for the longer arcs.
In regards to your adventure, I recommend that the mishap teleport puts them near the commander's base, which makes them fantastically lucky to find themself in a strategically decisive spot, while simutaneously being fantasically unlucky to be completely surrounded by enemy forces. Luckly the invaders are a neighboring nation so the PCs blend in with the rest of the troops.
My suggestion is to make the first few adventures episodic, where the PCs can meet their goals in a satisfactory manner, then have a metaplot reveal how these seemingly disjointed adventures are connected in a disturbingly sinister manner. Then go for the longer arcs.
In regards to your adventure, I recommend that the mishap teleport puts them near the commander's base, which makes them fantastically lucky to find themself in a strategically decisive spot, while simutaneously being fantasically unlucky to be completely surrounded by enemy forces. Luckly the invaders are a neighboring nation so the PCs blend in with the rest of the troops.
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Gold Roger
First Post
The one imminent tip I'd give you is never, never ever say or think something like then they'll do xy. That's bound to go awry.
The plot itself is good and not very railroady if presnted right. It's a nice little twist on a standart situation with a shadowy master form behind it. Just don't expect them to actual take it on, especially if they have hook whatsoever to deal with the situation.
The plot itself is good and not very railroady if presnted right. It's a nice little twist on a standart situation with a shadowy master form behind it. Just don't expect them to actual take it on, especially if they have hook whatsoever to deal with the situation.
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